This week broke a few very interesting stories.  First we have Apple taking the fight against all things titillating and taking the now familiar step of banishing apps from the iTunes store aka super Jobs nirvana land.  Seems that someone had the nerve to make apps that had cleavage and bare chested men and such…who would have thought.  Good news is that Apple has got the mothership servers on full alert and are wiping out vast swaths of applications.  The bad news is, as usual, no one is exactly sure whats ok and what isn’t.  But come on, when your app can be rejected because its icon doesn’t meet the “aesthetic standards” of Apple, what do you expect?

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But our main stories this week have nothing to do with Apple, no this week I take a peep at just what those school administrators in Pennsylvania call loss mitigation.  More specifically, why someone or more likely (if not unbelievably) several someones though it was ok to turn on the web cameras of laptops given to children without then knowing about it, while it was in child’s home, or more specifically bedroom.  Now so far its not as bad as that sounds, but its not much better.  The level of DUH this one required is hard to comprehend

Also a story this week about all the new 3d Televisions.  Apparently its not all a good thing, as some researchers believe that watching too much 3d may make a documented issue with watching 3d images on a screen called Binocular Dysphoria, permanent or at least last long enough to be a real issue.  I don’t know what you consider a real issue, but since a few million of these people are going to be driving within minutes of watching 3d stuff, I’d say its just a little more important.

Call the voicemail hotline (347)Bug-Mike    (347)284-6453

–Mike James

When reading a news story, it is very important to consider the source.  Many times in our busy online lives, we start to take a site for granted, and believe that the content put forth is done so in good faith and with the readers best interest and the truth all rolled up into one concise package.  Sometimes however, this faith is misplaced, and once lost, it is hard if not near impossible to regain.  Such a loss of faith happened to me this week when I read a story on Tech Dirt, by a Mike Masnick.  I can’t be sure if the slanting of the facts was just a case of sloppy journalism, deliberate deception, or the worlds worst effort to make a punchy headline and then having the headline leak its sensationalistic tone through the entire posts.  I can however assure you that the headline ‘Booksellers Claiming That Competition and Lower Prices are Bad for Consumers‘  is not only a complete distortion of the facts, it also is in direct and complete opposition to the actual story, which is one about how booksellers don’t want a few large companies to monopolize the market, limiting customer choice, and very likely, resulting in higher prices from less competition.

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We also take a look at why some contracts have some very strange, and far reaching language…nearly to infinity…and beyond

There’s a good mix of news stories this week, from HD-DVD to DMCA takedowns.  But the real question of thes week is did you ever drive one of these craptastic vehicles listed on the worst vehicles of the 1970’s?  Sure I touch on keeping your memory sharp as you get older, and yes I even have a story that follows up on one of the most infamous craigslist pranksters ever.  But when it comes right down to it, I know that you don’t care half as much that the EU has put caps on text message rates, or even that expensive shoes are bad for you…no you care more about the Ford Mustang II and AMC Pacer.  You want to revel in the cars that you were never unfortunate enough to own.  However, for a few of you, this will be a painful reminder of just how bad a car buying choice can be.  All I can say is that I know from personal experience…its hard to look cool in a Pinto.   Photos courtesy of Dave_7.

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Also done forget about the NEW RSS FEED

http://newscastlive.com/thinksmedia/category/mikethinksnews/feed/

SHOW LINKS:

• HD DVD

• DMCA

• TICKETS

• SHOES

• MEMORY

• CRAIGSLIST

• TXT

• CARS

It doesn’t take a whole lot of searching to discover ways in which current business practices are pretty silly in the face of current technology.  It takes even less effort to find a company who is clinging on to the way things used to work, in spite of moutains of warnings and predictions that doing so will not only make you look stupid, its also very likely to make your wallet pay the price.  Its a whole new world, and there are some companies that innovate, and take the new markets by storm…

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…and of course there are those that just can’t take that next step.  Weather they try and prevent the future by capping your internet speed, or data use, or threaten to sue everyone who even hints at the fact that they may want to comment on your news, its clear that we are fast approaching the point where it will become immediatly clear, what companies are run by visionaries, what which are run into the ground, screaming all the way that someone stole their business.

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There’s a lot that we all take for granted these days, and one of them is that Google is there to help us find stuff.  Doesn’t matter if its a place to eat, the next  air show, what Britney is flashing this week, or the reason that its getting so darn cold outside, Google is an integral part of everyone’s life who is reading this.  So that begs the question, are they also the reason that so many newspapers are failing, are they a bastion of trademark infringement?  It used to be that there was a corporate policy over at Google, and that policy was simple, straight forward, and had solid moral standing…DO NO EVIL.

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These days however, it seems more like do not get caught doing evil too much.  Harsh, probably, but its a far cry from the glory days of Saint Google.  I also cover news about Drinking, Cafeen, Clubbing Babby Seals in WOW, and much more on this weeks, Mike Thinks News

If you listen to this weeks show one thing is for sure, you will know exactly where I stand on overreaching attempts to legislate how someone lives their life, and no I’m not talking about someones preference in a partner.  At some point in the past 150 years, California went from wild west outpost, to home of the greatest population of NUTS that have ever been assembles to create laws that do little to help, but put such a stiffling effect on people and their ability to live, I just can’t help but wonder..AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO THINK THIS CRAP IS INSANE?

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By the way, I know its the week of April Fools, but we dont do that sillyness here, I leave that to sites that you don’t depend upon to be as factually accurate as possible.  I also have a few fun stories, including some amazing discoveries in space science and how MythBusters ended up busting a bit more than Myths last week.   SOme Netflix news thats gona hit your wallet, Twitter flexing its power, and much more on this weeks Mike Thinks News podcast.  DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN!

Listen to this weeks Mike Thinks News as Mike talks about how this show and site are no strangers to the idea that branding your product is important.  Its one of the reasons we are part of Thinks Media…its branding all the shows, under one family name and logo.  If you’ve been listening for a while,  you have no doubt see a few different logos come and go for the show.  This is a natural evolution for any business, as its identity can be so closely associated with its name and logo.

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Its also true that you will have a much more clear ownership of a particular name if that name is made of words that are made up…like Flickr, or Digg, and even Krystals.  But once you have established your brand and its identity, it is very risky to try and change that, and in the case of the Sci-Fi channel, its downright stupid.  That story and so much more on this weeks Mike Thinks News show.

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